Irridium flare?????

[JJDOBBER79 (Jas)]

Hi there, I was looking skyward at 5pm today in the north west and saw a bright star which looked like Venus. I was wondering what it was when it vanished. It was there at least 10 seconds. Was this likely an iridium flare? Is there a website where one can track where and when they will occur?

[astronobob (Bob)]

Hi Jas, There is a site named 'Heavens above' Link : http://www.heavens-above.com/

You will need to Register and enter your location so the programm can predict Iridium Flares (and other events) for where you are ! You have two options on how to do this, A) Choose a major nearby city or town in your area; OR You can use the mapping supplied, and keep zooming in untill your over your house for a more accurate reading, there will be some Longitude and Latitude co-ord there somewhere for you to note down and then can use these ! These Co-ord can be a little tricky, but there are examples/explanations to help you out !
For starters tho, a nearby Town will suffice

On the attached clip below, I have highlighted the link in yellow for info on Iridium Flares you can use once your set up & running
All the best ! !

[JJDOBBER79 (Jas)]

Thanks Bob.
That looks like a great site. Would also be handy for tracking the ISS.

[Bender (Martin)]

Hello Jas,

There is a app for the Iphone called sputnik. It's free and it will show irridium flares and the ISS for 7 days from you location.
I use it all the time.
Martin

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Cartes du Ceil does Iridium flare predictions. You need to set up the download process to get the TLEs and run it fairly often but it once it's working it works well.